HOT: Shawcross Pizza Joint, 324 Brunswick St, Fitzroy

From the ashes of a divey kebab joint on Brunswick Street has risen a new pizza restaurant, Shawcross Pizza Joint.

The owners of Phat Brats next door have taken over the adjoining site and transformed the space into a New York-style pizza joint.

So what does New York-style pizza even mean? “The most notable difference between New York-style and other American pizzas is its thin hand-tossed crust, made from a high-gluten bread flour. It is known for its large, wide, thin, and foldable shape.”

I’ve been told by aficionados of New York style pizza that the key to the base is New York’s water – and hence New York style pizza can’t be replicated anywhere else in the world. In fact, a guy in Chicago used to ship water from New York for his pizza dough! (These factoids must be true because they’re on Wikipedia).

Having not been to New York for 10+ years I can’t justifiably remember what the pizza tasted like…so I can’t comment on the authenticity of Shawcross Pizza Joint. However, I can confirm that their pizza is excellent. The thin crust is impressive – crispy, a little torched on the bottom yet still with a slight chew (but not to the same extent as an Italian style pizza) and the base held the toppings well without embarrassing slop-on-the-chin mishaps.

The menu is easy to navigate and is peppered with Dad’s Jokes. There are three classic pizza parlour starters – nachos, garlic and herb pizza and triple cheese pizza. The main event are the 12 inch whole pizzas ($12.50 – $16.50), as well as fold-in-half-and-shove-in-your-mouth slices fired in huge 22 inch pans for late night munchies ($5). For the carb-fearing or more virtuous diners they also offer six salads packed with superfoods.

We ordered the Notorious P.I.G ($16.50) – a hit with RM as he’s partial to ‘meat lovers’ pizzas generally. This version comes topped with slightly crispy spheres of pork sausage, bacon, a generous helping of jalapenos, mozzarella, onion and bottomed out with a spicy BBQ sauce.

We also tried Fancy Pants ($16) a pizza piled with charred honey ham, brie, juicy cherry tomatoes and fresh basil. I preferred this pizza as I thought the flavours were fresher than the Notorious P.I.G.

There are gluten-free ($4 extra) and vegetarian options available too.

As we bought takeaway we didn’t indulge in dessert but scanning the dine-in menu my pick would be the classic ice cream sundae. For takeaway the choice is limited to the Nutella calzone with strawberries and cream ($9) but personally I think pizza on top of pizza is too much for a single meal.

Shawcross Pizza Joint have just started free local delivery from 6pm for orders over $20, which means that I won’t even need to put shoes on to enjoy their food in future!